From Schoolboy to Soldier
It was Oct 1987, I joined Junior Para, straight from high school, I had terrible grades and wasn't interested in getting them. I knew I was going into the army, so why bother, (the mind of a 16 yr old.) Turning up at Brookwood station was a shock all of its own. I had traveled from Edinburgh to London and then onwards to Brookwood. The furthest I had traveled on my own up until then. The lads I joined with were just like me, raring to be Para's (Born from watching the BBC docu of the same Name.) we joined as 11 Platoon JPC, and did our training in the Guards camp at Pirbright. It was a hard, harsh learning, even though I'd been in the army cadets for years, nothing quite prepares you for the "Real" Army. The NCO's that trained us were mostly veterans of the Falklands war. Hard, but fare. Smudge, Winder, Gibbs (who sadly passed away while wild swimming.) and my NCO, Robbo. Over that period, I made some lifelong friends, we still meet up for reunions to this day. Almost 40 yrs later. Some of the lads went on to have long careers in the Para's Ian Wornham (Wormhat), John Morris, Chris Weldon, Rich (Billy) Bunting and Jon Hollingsworth, who went on to serve with 22 SAS, sadly killed in Iraq. All outstanding soldiers and friends. (there are others but it would take a whole page to list them all and their careers. ) I moved away from the Para's and joined 22 Loc Bty RA. A unit that specialised in Drones, way ahead of its time.